Teacher Says She’s Dying So She Can Get Out of Work for an Entire Year

Ashley Barker lied so she could skip work. Now, she doesn't have to worry about having a job to go to at all.

Barker, a first-grade teacher at Laurel Elementary School in Florida’s Polk County, is under fire for telling her superiors she and her father were both dying, just so she could get out of going to work. Somehow, Barker kept the lie going for an entire year and was allowed to miss days, leave early and receive special treatment.

Barker has come clean, admitting she never went to the hospital or saw a doctor for treatment; rather, she just stayed home as part of her "let's turn the concept of a mental health day into a mental health year" campaign.

It’s unclear how many days of school Barker actually missed, but authorities say she sent 120 letters during the course of the year to her principal.

It’s also unclear how people caught onto her brazen fib. Barker has not commented on the matter. She has been fired, but is fighting to keep her job and will take her case to a judge.

Just be careful if she tries to postpone the hearing because she's feeling under the weather.